As for naming, while its not new, I did happen to notice that Awakening's localization of Narrave's name is, well Narrave instead of Shadow Dragon's localization choice of Nabral.

Isn't it Navarre and Nabarl?

My roommate is going to New York this weekend for Wrestlemania, so I'm going to try and get a group together to no-life our way through Tales of Graces F. Myself and one friend played the first few hours, but he and I want to find a third and fourth to play through some more once the party gets to a good size. If we can't get four, it might just be the two of us rolling Abel and ____. (when we last left off it was just Asbel and Cheria.)

Played Bioshock some more. I'm not buying into the whole "This is a lesser System Shock 2 because they took the RPG elements out," since A) I didn't think the RPG elements were that balanced in SS2 or terribly intersting in their own right and B) Bioshock replaces them with a more metroidvania kind of thing.

However the game's definitely aping SS2 to the point where it feels really derivative, it's dropping in Painkiller-like mobs which don't really help it, and GOOD GOD THE CONTROLS ARE OFF.

Also the complete darkness in spots is just disorienting and annoying, instead of atmospheric.

Grow 2 - I fucked up one of the catgirl missions by neglecting to do something I wasn't aware I could do anyway. That kind of thing hurts my /trust/ in a game.

« Last Edit: April 05, 2013, 09:06:15 PM by MeshGearFox »

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o/` I do not feel joy o/`o/` I do not dream o/`o/` I only stare at the door and smoke o/`

Growlanser 2 - Did the catgirl thing right, and finished another Arieta quest.

Anyway, given my current rule about stopping a game at either 10 hours or the halfway point, whichever comes first, I currently have Mask of the Sun on the backburner, and Growlanser 2's clocked at... right around 8 hours. BS is close enough to SS2, which I just played a ton recently, so I have no inclination to stick with that for now. Gonna start up Jade Cocoon and see how well that holds my interests. Otherwise, thinking about either Chulip, Lost Kingdoms 1/2, or... idk, Phantom Dust.

Logged

o/` I do not feel joy o/`o/` I do not dream o/`o/` I only stare at the door and smoke o/`

So, a combination of wanting more stuff to play on my Vita and morbid curiosity caused me to get Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus. Yeah, that's right, that game. I've heard a number of people say that the gameplay was surprisingly good, but is that just because their expectations were so low? Well, I decided to find out. When I put the game in my Vita the icon for it on the homescreen was a closeup of a pair of oversized breasts. Not off to a great start here...

Before talking about the gameplay I want to say that he 'story' (such as it is) is some of the most inane drivel I have ever encountered, and that's saying a lot. Calling these characters 2D stereotypes is an insult to 2D stereotypes. You can describe everything you will ever need to know about most of them in a single sentence (and not a long sentence, either...). But unfortunately if you play the story mode there is tons of unskippable blabbering that you have to sit through before and after every fight...thankfully there are other modes.

But nobody is playing this game for story or characters, right? They're playing it for the fanser...I mean, gameplay. I think based on early screens and stuff some people were expecting a Dynasty Warriors-esque experience, but that's really not the case at all. While some levels have mobs of mooks to get through they never take much time. The real meat of the game is all about dueling with the other shinobi. There are a lot of characters in this game, but they all play pretty similarly. You have your light attack, a heavy attack that's a bit awkward to use on its own but can be combo'ed from light attacks, jump, dodge, and block (which I almost never used...). If you send your opponent flying with a combo a tap of the dodge button will have to chase after them and you can continue your combo. There's also a 'limit break' move that eats a bit of your health and doesn't do much damage but it sends your opponent flying and can be invoked at any time so it pretty much exists for the sole purpose of interrupting combos against you.

Then of course there are the transformations. In every battle you start out in normal clothes but as you attack your opponent(s) you build up ninja scrolls that give you the option of transforming into your shinobi mode. In this mode not only are your attacks more powerful you also gain access to your supers. There are three levels of supers (though you have to unlock the level 3s by playing the story mode and I haven't actually unlocked any of them yet...) which burn the same scrolls you use to transform (1 scroll to invoke a level 1, 2 for level 2, etc) but if used right they can be pretty devastating attacks. Supers can also be used defensively, too. If you're positioned right and invoke your super immediately after the enemy invokes there the two can cancel each other out. So to get access to all of this you want to transform as soon as possible, right? Actually, there's an interesting twist to it. The transformation completely restores your health, so you don't necessarily want to do it right away, especially if you're already at full health. It seems safer to do as much damage as you can in regular mode first, then transform when your health gets low. Of course if you push it too far you run the risk of getting killed before even transforming, so there's a bit of strategy to it.

OK, it's impossible to talk about this game without mentioning the fanservice. It's filled to the brim with it, to the point where it's practically comical. Good combos or super moves will strip your opponent's clothes (and of course the other way around, too), and the whole transformation business pretty much means you have to strip everyone twice (since they get their clothes back after transforming). Normally they will be left with underwear at least, but if your finishing blow is a super you can strip that too (though censoring marks will magically appear) and then they will appear in the post-fight cutscene in that state. The thing is, none of these girls actually react to being naked. The animations and stuff are completely unchanged, and no mention of it is made in the dialogue. Combined with the blatant censoring the end result is more goofy than titillating.

So what's the final verdict? Honestly, I could see this game being a guilty pleasure. The gameplay is actually pretty fun even though I don't think it's particularly deep or anything. The fanservice is so ridiculously over the top that it's impossible to take seriously, though I guess more easily offended people should stay away. The game runs well and is decent enough graphically. The story is...ugh. But there are enough non-story modes to keep you busy. My biggest beef about the game is the shitty camera, which can easily get obstructed by things leaving you with no idea what's going on. And there are tons of costumes, accessories, etc. to get so you can spend all day playing dress-up if you're into that...

I arrived at Xibalba's front step via the silver river early saturday morning in persona 2 IS.... it is late sunday and I'm still there... geeeeeee golly...

And of course now I enter the most trying phase of my gaming routine. SELECTING THE NEXT TITLE TO PLAY!! i feel really compromised this time... there is a lot on my shelf really demanding my attention.

On deck and being decided on at the moment...

1. Finish Wild Arms Alter Code F (stopped at the fake ending or sorts)2. Finish Agarest 2 (at the end of the 2nd gen, loved it, should have never put it down)3. Finally play Ar Tonelico 3 (had the LE since release, steared clear as a result of what I knew of the title.... always bugged me I didn't complete the franchise... and to be honest I think after playing innocent sin this could prove "refreshing"... really leaning toward this one right now)4. Move right into Eternal Punishment (crazy as it may seem, this seems to be the most logical way to enjoy the plot, although the gameplay..... i don't know how much more I could take)5. Devil Summoner Overclocked (i am determined to finally conquer a DS title)6. Lost Odyssey (I still have yet to play one X Box 360 exclusive and its driving my mad)

Goddamn jade cocoon has an interesting aesthetic. It's like half things fall apart, half egypt, half korea, and half uh that indigenous tribe of bug people that live in brazil.

Thanks for the tip mesh! I hate picking my next game and always need the communities advice and believe me... I really appreciate it! I will heed your warning.

Even though I'm really feeling Ar Tonelico 3 I'm starting to lean toward Overclocked because I already started it. That and if I don't finish a 3ds game soon I will begin to feel defeated in some sense-LoL

I even have Radiant Historia for the DS sitting on the shelf since release and haven't played that yet either.... My ds and 3ds library needs some attention at this point to justify how much I spent collecting the damn things.

EDIT: I wish we had a sticky thread somewhere to address this issue for the indecisive gamer with too many titles on his or her shelf. Some system set up where the community voted on said players "next" game. I would have made the thread ages ago but something tells me most people don't turn it into quite so big a problem as I tend to-LoL

EDIT AGAIN: I just remembered soul hackers is also coming out next week.... and I get REAL excited to play new games while everyone here is doing the same.... oh god, the madness... klyde is so confused.... maybe I should just hold off on overclocked as well and walk for soul hackers? sorry for exposing all you fine folk to the chaos that ensues within my grey matter...

Booted up Tales of Graces f for like the first time since about 10 months..... i hane no idea what the fuck -- forgotten everything. Anyone knowwhy I'm making gel seeds in my eleth mixer??? I remember saying it was a good idea at some point.

Booted up Tales of Graces f for like the first time since about 10 months..... i hane no idea what the fuck -- forgotten everything. Anyone knowwhy I'm making gel seeds in my eleth mixer??? I remember saying it was a good idea at some point.

High production rate maybe? if memory serves I think I found it best to make sure the eleth mixer was cranking crap out as much as possible... I found myself either producing things out of either A) necessity or B) to increase the mixers level due to the production frequency. I would venture to guess that "b" is the answer to your question.

then again the eleth mixer in the scope of things was really an afterthought for me so my memory of its utility is foggy. the game was plenty easy enough without even needing to exploit the mixers' function.

Booted up Tales of Graces f for like the first time since about 10 months..... i hane no idea what the fuck -- forgotten everything. Anyone knowwhy I'm making gel seeds in my eleth mixer??? I remember saying it was a good idea at some point.

High production rate maybe? if memory serves I think I found it best to make sure the eleth mixer was cranking crap out as much as possible... I found myself either producing things out of either A) necessity or B) to increase the mixers level due to the production frequency. I would venture to guess that "b" is the answer to your question.

then again the eleth mixer in the scope of things was really an afterthought for me so my memory of its utility is foggy. the game was plenty easy enough without even needing to exploit the mixers' function.

My eleth mixer was always loaded up with books (including somme that increased its growth rate in various categories) and a couple foods that gave nice bonuses mid-battle. Otherwise I didn't bother much...

Klyde - I get around the whole "what will I play next?" deal by organizing my backlog, planning which games to play months in advance, and then keeping an updated list in forum posts and my blog. Sure, sometimes things come up and screw up my plans (hey there, Persona 4 second cycle!), but overall I'm really happy with it. I haven't cut into my backlog this well in a decade.

So with that said, earlier this weekend I finally beat Psychonauts. **** the meat circus. I couldn't get a group together for a Tales of Graces F run like I originally wanted to, because apparently I have less of a life than most of my friends. Super. Soon I'm going to re-pick-up a playthrough of Tales of Vesperia that I started in February. Good times.